1.Everyone shall possess the right to freely express and publicise his thoughts in words, images or by any other means, as well as the right to inform others, inform himself and be informed without hindrance or discrimination
2.Exercise of the said rights shall not be hindered or limited by any type or form of censorship
Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, Article 37.º

Murdoch's News Corporation: 'A House of cards, Built on deceit'

«We were stunned because up until that point we were allowed to do legitimate news, suddenly we were ordered from the top to carry propaganda» Frank O Donnell, Former Fox News Producer

«It is a truth universally acknowledged that any party seeking power in this country must first pay obeisance to Rupert Murdoch. Gifts must be laid at his feet, however humiliating that may be to the party in question» Polly Toynbee, Guardian Journalist

For the last 3 years I've been writing a few articles on Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation commercial manipulative strategy to sell news as a 'soap opera' where investigative, factual journalism reporting real events has no place.

That is exactly what has happened on the Madeleine McCann case in several media belonging to Murdoch's totalitarian media empire; indeed from 2007 to 2008 it was very rare to find an unbiased report that was not just a mere copy paste of a press release with vested interests repeated ad nauseum in Murdoch's Sky News, The Sun, News of the World, The Sunday Times, The Times, etc, and in the British media mainstream.

A journalist wrote at the time on the matter of the British media feeding its viewers with the 'McCann Case Show': «We are constantly reminded of one purported fact: These are “good” people. Dad (Gerry) is a heart specialist. With mother, Kate, almost as equally photogenic as her daughter, there is no reason to doubt the script. They are an ideal British family touring a country in a manner reminiscent of American tourists in pre-Castro Havana. Then the icing on the cake: they are regular churchgoers, and the media crowd the pews with them. Even Sir Richard Branson has agreed to fund the McCanns in the hope they get a “fair” legal hearing.»

But back to Murdoch, bit by bit, this man and his corporation have attempted, successfully, to lower our standards where they matter. He is not alone, he was followed by editors and media moguls all over the world who decided to give us 'diverting and entertaining' news instead of hard facts - solely with three purposes: to alienate us from reality, to hide the truth of what is really happening behind the scenes and to sell us their products. They fill our minds with everything and anything, as long as it serves and sets their own agendas.

Murdoch a man that inflamed national tensions between Portugal and Britain since 2007 solely for the purpose of ratings and commercial profits, a man that has created presidents and obliterated prime ministers, a man that has resorted to use criminal and illegal tactics like phone hacking to get 'better scoops' and inside info - in a country where seemingly no one regulates media monopolies and ensures that the public interest is served; has now gone a step too far.

Marking a steep downward path in journalistic ethics and values, and showing yet again how the concentration of media ownership is a grave threat to democracy we have now the absolute certainty that Murdoch's massive and extreme right-wing media organisation has published a forged document designed to induce a particular bias against Iran.

"Philip Giraldi, who was a CIA counterterrorism official from 1976 to 1992, told IPS that intelligence sources say that the United States had nothing to do with forging the document, and that Israel is the primary suspect. The sources do not rule out a British role in the fabrication, however.

The Times of London story published Dec. 14 did not identify the source of the document. But it quoted "an Asian intelligence source" - a term some news media have used for Israeli intelligence officials - as confirming that his government believes Iran was working on a neutron initiator as recently as 2007.

The story of the purported Iranian document prompted a new round of expressions of U.S. and European support for tougher sanctions against Iran and reminders of Israel's threats to attack Iranian nuclear programme targets if diplomacy fails (...)

The Rupert Murdoch chain has been used extensively to publish false intelligence from the Israelis and occasionally from the British government", Giraldi said.

The Times is part of a Murdoch publishing empire that includes the Sunday Times, Fox News and the New York Post. All Murdoch-owned news media report on Iran with an aggressively pro-Israeli slant. (you can read the rest of the article here)"

And while at it, maybe it would be good to report fairly on other cases.

All that the sharpest critics of democracy have alleged is true, if there is no steady supply of trustworthy and relevant news. Incompetence and aimlessness, corruption and disloyalty, panic and ultimate disaster, must come to any people which is denied an assured access to the facts. Walter Lippmann, American writer & journalist

Joana, thanks for this, excellent article. One to read several times. The points being I suppose, how does what is in effect fraud go legally unpunished? And who pays Murdoch to disseminate lies in order to influence public opinion?The most likely answer being Governments themselves, or, in this case, the British Government. Which of course begs the question, why were the McCanns in the same league as a Muslim country potentially involved in a nuclear war?

Murdoch was sued by 2 exjournalists in 1998. The journalists had been employed by a regional Fox TV station in Miami. The journalists uncovered and publicised the early use of a milk inducing hormone which had just been introduced to the dairy industry. The hormone increased milk yield by up to 30% and despite being sanctionned for use by the FDA is still to this day outlawed in the EC. The EC determined this hormone should be prohibited from use in the EC dairy herds as it appears as the cause of tumours, legions and even premature and painfull death of cows in the herd along with discoloured and teinted milk.

Advertisers in the dairy industry, led by Monsanto, the drug company that invented the treatment, quickly withdrew their financial support and terminated advertising contracts with Fox in the light of the reporters revelations. When challenged by Fox as to why they persisted with uncovering the dirty deeds of the US dairy industry, the reporters nobly insisted the public had a right to know and that Fox had a duty of care to the public to report the news fairly and without fear, favour or bias.

Fox sacked the reporters. The reporters sued for unfair dismissal. The judge who heard the case awarded total victory to Fox. The judge in open court said this case determined Fox did not have a duty of care to report the news fairly or without bias. This landmark judgement in a Miami county court determined Murdoch, indeed all news publishers, from thenceforth had no need of the inconvenience of the truth when reporting the news.

At a solitary strike, news output across the globe became a trivial pursuit and nothing more. The McCanns and their media machine were of course as media professionals all too well aware of the necessity or not of reporting the truth, the news, without disfigurement, fear or favour.

watch this link, the lady talks about her dealings with the Foreign office.They had told her they had no control of the media, yet when she made an appeal via Granada Television, it had to be sent to the foreign office for editing before it could be released for the public to view.

Thentherewere4, "The judge in open court said this case determined Fox did not have a duty of care to report the news fairly or without bias. This landmark judgement in a Miami county court determined Murdoch, indeed all news publishers, from thenceforth had no need of the inconvenience of the truth when reporting the news."

An incredible decision that doesn't make sense at all. Here in Canada we have access to many American channels and I have witnessed that the American news channels tend to sensationalise the news. News is increasingly more about entertaining the public than providing unbiased information.

Fox is a joke, it is beyond biased. If you watch any program on Fox that discusses politics, you will soon realise that according to Fox, the Democratic party is pure evil and the Republican party is the only political party that can do any good for the nation. Glen Beck, who hosts his own show on Fox once referred to Obama as a racist, stating that he hates whites. The Democrats are trying to implement universal health care in the States, and many Democrats referred to Canada's health care system as a good model. Fox followed with reports of hordes of people in Canada having to wait lengthy periods to see a doctor, which is a lie. I watched the investigative documentaries that Fox transmitted with regard to the Madeleine case, they were pure garbage. In one documentary, it was argued that in other countries a fleet of helicopters would have been launched immediately after Madeleine went missing, they even referred to the fictional investigative show CSI. The gist of these shows was that the McCanns are model citizens, the Portuguese police are incompetent and because they are incapable of catching the bad guy they had to incriminate the McCanns in order to save the tourist industry.

Murdock probably regrets his support for the duo given the way they are stifling free speech and disparaging the press. I can't believe the nerve of them since they were for the most part given special treatment for some reason.

Google is just great. Just type in Murdoch and all the dirt shows up. His father , a Sir Keith Murdoch married into a very wealthy zionist family. So by the law of Talmud, Murdoch is in fact a jew. That figures why he has become the front-office of the Zionist Mafia. Did I say Mafia ???? Well I always knew that the mcscums rear .... lol was very cosy and and stiff. lol next sighting Tel Aviv.Jamar